Fettercairn

[Troglodyte]

Sorry

It was very active member “Troglodyte” who lives near the Fettercairn distillery.

I’ll do some experimenting with my kilt belt

Guilty as charged..!

But I am no longer near Fettercairn.

Fettercairn is part of the Whyte and Mackay empire, and its whisky is perhaps not as individually distinctive as it might once have been (corporate image and all that) but its distilling process is entirely unique.

Their stills have a collar around the neck which sprays water around the narrow part to cool the rising spirit, and it is this that is said to give Fettercairn its light and floral character. When the French investment firm bought Glen Moray, it is reputed they transformed that whisky to be more appealing to women - ie, sweet and floral.

It would be wrong to say Fettercairn is a woman's drink, but their entry-level 12yo is a good, light aperitif, or an easy-sipping dram that is fairly well-priced at about £37 (but easy to find being sold for much more than that) a bottle. Their older and specialised offerings (the distillery produces ranges purely for the export market whch are denied to the home market..!) are significantly more costly.

Fettercairn uses its own water supply and has planted its own oak forest on the slopes of The Mounth that forms its picturesque back-drop (The Mounth is effectively the mountainous mass that is the southern side of Royal Deeside) and the wood will be used for its own casks. I imagine that whisky will be very oaky is style - perhaps much more like Bourbon.

Only a few miles away at the ancient city of Brechin is Glencadam distillery - and, being about the same 200 year age as Fettercairn, produces a far better range of spirits. Glencadam is curently undergoing a refurbishment with a new visitor centre, and their whiskies are much more traditional - perhaps more 'manly' in character. They pipe their water several miles from the nearby Highlands, and so is much more Highland in style.

A bit further on from Brechin is the family-owned Arbikie distillery, that has a good range of spirits and also offers accomodation - so no worries about drinking and driving!

As regards photo opportunities, Fettercairn is set in a very attractive spot, with bulb-fields (like they have in Holland) all around and with the heather-clad Mounth and forested Highlands rising behind. The pagoda roofs and white-washed buildings make Fettercairn almost the quintessential distillery in appearance. Fettercain itself is a pretty and ancient stone village around a market square which has the stone cross that was once in the centre of the now long since disappeared town and castle of Kincardine - where the real Macbeth is reputed to have done his devilish doings against Duncan, and John Baliol signed over the Kingdom of Scotland to Edward I (him of the 'proud army') of England.

Fettercairn is within a Queen's walking distance of Balmoral, and Queen Victoria would regularly take a stroll across the hills, overnight at the Ramsay Arms hotel (where she pretended to be a wedding party from Aberdeen to keep the locals away) in the village, call in at Fasque House where her prime minister Gladstone had his family home, and follow Wade's military road over Cairn o' Mount back to Deeside.

This narrow road is still the principle route into the Highlands, and still uses the 1720s arched stone bridges - which get a regular battering from logging-trucks - and is a steep, exciting drive over wild country, with a viewing point on the summit (and parking) for superb photos looking east across The Mearns (the top end of Strathmore) to the North Sea. Less than 30 minutes' drive is the old Viking port of Stonehaven (where they have the new-year fireball twirlling and the best fish-n-chips in Scotland) and Dunnottar Castle.

In other words, the country of Angus and The Mearns around Fettercairn has plenty to offer the whisky-loving motorist photographer but it is often missed in favour of the Cairngorms. One is 'real' Scotland, the other offers the 'tourist experience' of Scotland.

If you were wanting a local's insider knowledge for planning a tour, I would be happy to give it.